NOV 14 (SAN DIEGO) – In summer of
2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s
(DEA) Narcotics Task Force (NTF) Team 9
was conducting routine aerial surveillance
when they happened to spot a remote marijuana
farm in Julian. Agents cut down the massive
crop with machetes, arrested four crop
tenders and found lots of items left behind – illegal
pesticides, a makeshift kitchen, sleeping
bags, candles and crosses, and lots of
trash. They seized cell phones that turned
out to be a critical catalyst for the investigation.
Two years later, Operation Mountain High
morphed into a complex and groundbreaking
case involving extensive wiretaps, video
cameras mounted in the middle of nowhere
and arrests of elusive higher-level marijuana
traffickers who manage large-scale grows
on public lands.

Investigators were
able to use the
cell phones to
connect the players
through wiretaps
and other electronic
surveillance techniques – moves
that took the case
far beyond the
typical chance
discovery of a
single outdoor
grow and the arrests
of low level grow
workers. Fourteen
phone lines were
tapped for almost
six months, producing
hundreds of hours
of intercepted
conversations that
were key to building
the case.

On Tuesday November
13th, DEA and
its partners
arrested six
of 10 people
charged. All
are believed
to be mid to
high level managers
in the drug trafficking
organization.
Agents searched
15 locations
associated with
the organization
in El Cajon,
Lakeside and
Valley Center
in San Diego
County and Temecula,
Perris and Hemet
in Riverside
County. They
seized 12 firearms,
$237,000 in cash
and 13 vehicles
and 300 pounds
of processed
marijuana, ready
for sale, with
a street value
of more than
$300,000. In
the two-year
probe they seized
more than 79,000
marijuana plants
during raids
of eight farms
in Julian, Valley
Center, Pala,
Palomar Mountain,
Cleveland National
Forest and Riverside.

“This
investigation
represents one
of the most comprehensive
investigations
ever undertaken
in this county
specifically
targeting outdoor
marijuana cultivation,” said
William Sherman,
Acting Special
Agent in Charge
DEA San Diego
division, the
lead agency on
the investigation. “This
was a sophisticated
group of traffickers
who had no regard
for California’s
federal and state
public lands,
and the damage
that was done
to these areas
in their quest
to make money.
DEA/NTF and our
law enforcement
partners hit
this organization
at every level
and have succeeded
in putting them
out of business
for good.”

Officials believe
the traffickers
are part of a
much larger criminal
operation based
in Mexico. According
to court documents,
the drug trafficking
operation used
undocumented
workers smuggled
into the U.S.
to tend to the
marijuana crops.
The organization
manufactured
and distributed
marijuana in
locations throughout
southern and
central California,
and had links
to other marijuana
grows in Northern
California, Utah
and Idaho.

The defendants
are scheduled
for arraignment
Nov. 14 in federal
court in San
Diego at 1:30
p.m. before U.S.
Magistrate Judge
Barbara L. Major.
The charges are
only allegations,
and the defendants
are presumed
innocent until
and unless proven
guilty beyond
a reasonable
doubt.

The DEA San
Diego Field Division’s
Narcotics Task
Force (NTF) is
large multi-agency
Task Force, consisting
of approximately
100 sworn law
enforcement agents
and officers
for 18 different
local, state
and federal agencies.
The mission of
the San Diego
Narcotics Task
Force is to dismantle
the most significant
mid to high level
organizations
and bring to
justice the organizations’ principle
members involved
in narcotics
trafficking,
growing, manufacturing
and money laundering
in Southern California.

Other agencies
involved in the
case are San
Diego County
Sheriff’s
Department, the
Bureau of Land
Management, the
San Diego Police
Department and
the Internal
Revenue Service-Criminal
Investigations,
United States
Border Patrol,
the Riverside
County Sheriff’s
Department and
the U.S. Forest
Service.

An indictment
or a complaint
is not evidence
that the defendants
committed the
crimes charged.
The defendants
are presumed
innocent until
the Government
meets its burden
in court of proving
guilt beyond
a reasonable
doubt.